An Eye for your Friendship
by Tallemy
Summary: The brave and fearless Captain wasn't always as brave and fearless as everyone thinks. He was a coward and a real mimosa who was the perfect target for the bullies. But what happened that made him change into his current self? Did he choose the eternal rule of 'bully or be bullied? Or there was something else...?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: It's time for another scout centered story, but instead of Raimon this time the main location is a school somewhere in Okinawa. I couldn't take Captain away from the sea... That would be mean to the king of the seven seas!  
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_You weren't like this all the time. The boy I knew was insecure and a real coward._

It was the first day of school. When the first new friendships are formed and the first prejudices toward new classmates are made. It starts the creation of closed groups what usually leave out the weakest or most different links from the chain of friends. The process almost always begins with the short introductions. What really was on stake here was the delusive first impression and Kabutenji managed to screw it up on his first try. Apart from him, almost everyone had been able to create a good or somewhat satisfying introduction taking their favourite hobbies, family members, animals and dogs into accounting. But when he got there, standing in front of the class, the only words he could utter to the bored crowd was:

"I- I love penguins!" he stammered rather uncertainly as if he wasn't sure what he should say to them even after hearing almost twelve beautiful example.

Unfortunately this fact impressed a very minimal part of the class. Yet some people already started giggling and whispered "piddling penguin" amongst number of other jokes.

"If you want penguin then go to the Zoo. They're extinct on Okinawa. You're a little lost, no?" shouted someone from the back row, but the teacher immediately had him shut up when she threw a piercing glare at him.

"First I thought you had some kind of aberration for walking like that, but you've only imitated the penguins" said the next, then the third joined in and the class started swarming at him. At that time Kabutenji lost all control over his introduction and without a proper closing, he walked back to his seat as if it were the only safe place for him. His only desire was to escape right after the end of class so he could forget his failing.

In the distance a pair of brown eyes followed him as he hurried back to his seat and right after Kabutenji sat down, that person started poking him with a pen. Kabutenji only turned at the umpteenth attempt and finally paid attention to the unfamiliar feeling in his back.

"Hey, hey! Do you like king or emperor penguins?" asked the dark haired boy in a pretty normal tone. His voice was free from ill feelings and only betrayed mere curiosity.

Kabutenji hasn't answered. For him this was just one of the negative comments. It never occurred to him that the curious smile was truly genuine. When the boy called Kurosawa Kenta went out to introduce himself, he caused a big surprise for him and the whole class. The boy's glare almost froze the atmosphere in the class, making even the slightest breaths audible. He said his name and some background information, but before he went back to his seat he threw one last comment to the class:

"Be the way, I love penguins too."

At this sentence he directly looked at Kabutenji.

That was the final word. Kabutenji made a vow that he will never talk to the kid named Kurosawa. No. he won't speak either of his classmate. He wondered if his parents would allow him to transfer to a new school. For some reason he felt that there is a really long year ahead of him.

"Come on! Why did you have to ruin it?" whined the boy sitting next to Kurosawa while punching him in the arm. He still waited for his introduction, but it seemed he had planned out his whole speech. "Now it will be half as much fun teasing that scaredy cat!"

"So?" asked back Kurosawa with a serious expression. "What's so funny and weird in liking penguins? Care to tell me?"

"It's..." he hesitated. The boy had to think really hard about a reason. "Just imagine how funny would be his expression!"

"Saruwatari. Shut up."

"But if I die of boredom because of you-"

Kabutenji listened to their conservation in disbelief then suddenly the conversation was stopped by a huge thud. The class turned around as one person to observe the events, but they must've missed something because Kurosawa was sitting there as if nothing had happened, while Saruwatari rested his head on the table while moaning in pain. The teacher asked them if everything was alright at their desk. Kurosawa just nodded with an empty expression.

After they weren't in focus anymore the dark-haired boy remarked quietly:

"If you're bored, find yourself a hobby, but leave others out of it."

Kurosawa's presence was like a demon's in the tiny classroom and this made Kabutenji more worried like the rest of his classmates. He was sure, it's enough to turn his back once and he gets a nice kitchen knife into it. Or Kurosawa will cut his throat.

Distance. Yes, he has to keep the respectable distance.

The only question is: How? They're sitting way to close for that.

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**A/N: I hope you liked it and you'll keep following this silly story. As always reviews are welcomed and highly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

Even after he had been completely rejected, Kurosawa still refused to give up on his plans to befriend Kabutenji somehow. They already had one common thing, that was enough reason and the boy didn't seem to be bad. The situation ironically reminded him to the time when a cat finds its prey too interesting and before it crunches the small animal's backbone it plays around a bit. Yet he differed from a cat in fact he didn't want to hurt him in any way. Rather he felt sorry for the boy. The school started almost a month ago and Kabutenji was still alone most of the times creating an invisible wall between himself and his classmates.

Of course Kurosawa repeatedly tried to strike up a conversation with him, but he was ignored. For Kabutenji, Kurosawa Kento never existed. In that school no one wanted to befriend with him. That's how he lived his days. Killing every hope, instead of being disappointed with his life. Giving up on something important in order to protect himself.

However despite of his passivity he heard the bad jokes and comments continuously from his classmates. This was one of the reasons why Kurosawa found this behaviour really weird. Someone who sits in his seat all day, tolerates the bullying yet he never want new friends. After all, it's nature's law that the weaker always tries to find someone bigger and stronger to protect him. Even if these kind of relationships could be hardly called "friendship" it's still good to have someone you can rely on.

At the end of the third week he finally started to understand the real cause of the special reticence.

He accidentally forgot his textbook in his desk, what contained the notes for tomorrow's short test. Even if it was to measure his knowledge he wanted to prepare properly with every method he could grasp and Kurosawa didn't want to risk losing his book. But the room wasn't empty as he thought it would be. The boy instinctively stopped at the door and tried to assess the situation.

He could only see the silver haired boy's back, beside him was a red bucket. Kurosawa had the feeling that the bucket was in close connection with Kabutenji's goal.

He tried to wash something off from his desk. Sometimes his movement became chatoic, fairly rougher, then he tried out the sponge's softer side again. From that distance it was impossible to determine what he wanted to wash of so desperately, but Kurosawa could clearly see the black ink marks on the desk. A typical method for petty, bored children.

Kabutenji tried to wash it down, but he had to admit that it was just a waste of time and strength. He gave up then angrily threw the sponge into the bucket. The strength of the impact caused a giant splash, making his socks and shoes wet, but he just angrily kicked the bucket again. He didn't wanted to sit at an ugly desk all year. He didn't wanted people playing pranks on him but even he has to run out of patience.

After letting out his anger on his surroundings, his bag was already on his shoulder and he stormed out of the room, leaving a bigger mess than he found in the first place. At least his rush was useful for Kurosawa, who quickly hid behind the door because he could slip into the room unnoticed by the boy in despair. Finally. A freshly decorated desk stood before him. He eagerly stepped closer to read the vulgar messages scribbled into the blue cover, topped with a few drawings.

_"I hate you. What are you doing here?" "Coward worm"_

_"Go back to where you came from"_

_"Will you marry a penguin?" _

This was only a fraction of the countless insults that covered the whole desk. The headless penguin was the worst of all. Then someone draw a stick-kid labelling him as "Kabutenji". Under him countless hungry sharks. there were various small doodles around. Not offensive, but they still helped to ruin the furniture.

"Pathetic." he muttered under his breath as he reached for the sponge. This was disgusting. He really couldn't understand why they hated the poor guy so much.

Kurosawa tried to continue where Kabutenji left off, but after a few minutes he realized why he gave up so easily.

It was lacquer marker. And it was permanent.

Everything was covered in black lacquer marker, which was impossible to scratch down with a simple soap and tap water. After all they used it for ruining walls for a reason.

After less than half hour he decided to give up too. This was an impossible task.

Wearily, he sat down in a chair and let his arms recover a bit from the work. He would've needed some kind of solvent to erase the scribbles but he wasn't in the mood of borrowing bleach and other chemicals from the school. Knowing his luck, he would either blow up the building or kill himself with poisonous gases he created while mixing the chemicals. Sure, there must've been a good reason for not letting kids near that kind of stuff.

As he watched the desk before him, he suddenly got a brilliant idea. His lips became a thin line as he started grinning to himself. He shouldn't be doing this, but this revenge sounded really sweet in his head. If Kabutenji won't stand out for himself, someone has to help him from the shadow, before something serious happens. Even if he continues to refuse his existence after this.

Thus, the prefect plan has been born.

**A/N: Ah… Not much longer than the first chapter, right? I think sometimes it's better keeping things short instead of stretching them to the infinity~**


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